hackapelite

I need (want?) linux for my new laptop, but frustrated by the number of distros to choose from, I did several online questionnaires or whatever they're called, and pretty much every time the following 4 came out on the top:Mandriva, openSUSE, Ubuntu, and Fedora. I'll probably go for one (or several) of these. Now, could anyone (please) be so nice as to explain the main differences and distinctive characteristics of these distros?

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JlCollins005

if new to linux i suggest ubuntu

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brian

well i can say fedora and ubuntu.

Fedora is my favorate and it is a all-in-one. the dvd image comes with everything you need to start with. ubuntu is more aimed towards the average user and only comes with some things, if you want the rest you have to download it off a program. ubuntu is also a good live-cd (does not need a hard drive) but fedora does too.

In the end linux CANT be assigned to a person. many people like linux because it has so many to chose from and people like that. so my sudgestion is figure out which one you like

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hackapelite

Yea... that's why, in my original post, I asked if someone could explain the main differences/features between/of the distros I listed... so that I figure out which one I like/try first!

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BY READING THE ABOVE POST, YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:

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hackapelite

...anyone?

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BY READING THE ABOVE POST, YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:

"The above post is provided solely for entertainment purposes and is not to be taken as professional advice. Therefore, I shall not be held responsible for any damage or losses that are result from anything I have posted, to the extent applicable by law. In the unlikely event that I CAN be held responsible, I have never been here, I am not here, and I will never be here, and it will be highly questionable whether I even exist."

patrickv

they are all the same, they all use gnome desktops, have you tried Suse ? have you tried ubuntu ? do you see any differences ? NO, the difference lies only in eye candy and visuals (and maybe ease of use, which ubuntu wins on), but the backbone remains the same, same software, same ways to update,same boot up errors !! lol etc etc...

well thats how I see it, as i have used al the ones you named and i didn't notice anything

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imsati

^ Ayup.

Three main 'flavors' of Linux: Gnome, KDE, and XFCE. Every Distro will be based off of one of those, the only differences being where the restart button is, or the default color scheme/background, where to go to install software, etc, etc.

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geese

Okay, Mandriva, openSuse and Fedora are .rpm based and Ubuntu is .deb based. DEB and RPM are software "packages".

To compare this to windows - think of when you download a small game from the internet. It usually appear as an icon that you double click to install. The "icon" contains the software that will install to your c:\program files directory.

deb and rpm are similar to that, but be aware that most Linux distros come with a package management program that handles software installation for you. Clicking on rpms and debs may not work the way you would expect it to work in windows.

Another difference - mandriva and suse usually default to the KDE desktop environment and Fedora and ubuntu comes with the Gnome desktop environment.
These desktop environment are what you "see" i.e. the desktop and windows.

I am not sure about fedora and but mandriva, ubuntu, and suse have a live discs that you can download and try out without installing anything on your hard drive.

I suggest trying out the live discs first.

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